Bardeen discovered many things in his scientific career including the concept that one may reach their desires and passions with great determination and patience. Using the concept of Quantum Mechanics, Bardeen accomplished many great things in his life. With the help of Brattain and Shockley, the researchers received two Nobel Prize awards for the creation of the first transistor and many new theories following the facts of quantum mechanics."The combined results of several people working together is often much more effective than could be that of an individual scientist working alone."-John Bardeen. [¹] After many more years of studies and findings, Bardeen became a member of the American Physical Society and served on the Council from 1954 through 1957, in which he became president in 1968 and 1969.
Insights and Influences
May 23rd, 1908 of Madison Wisconsin, John Bardeen was born by parents Dr.Charles Russel Bardeen and Althea Harmer Bardeen. From a family of greater knowledge, John was expected to perform exceptionally well during his life. Althea, his mother, studied art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York and his father, Charles, attended the University of Wisconsin Medical School to receive a PhD. Althea, his mother, was diagnosed with cancer when John was approximately 14 years old. [¹]After his mother’s death, John resented his father for sugarcoating the importance of her condition, which in turn helped John decide he wanted to be nothing like his father. Instead of going to Medical School, John attended the University of Wisconsin to receive a master’s degree in engineering. [¹]
With a masters in electrical engineering, one would assume getting a job that pays sufficiently would be a simple task, however for Bardeen, all that was offered to him was a geologic position for Gulf Oil Company as a geophysicist. Finding a job to pursue ones passions in life was a great challenge during the days of the American Depression. After three years, he decided that his desires did not include pursuing geological engineering, but to study in depth mathematical physics in which he received a PhD. Bardeen enjoyed complex math, therefore physics was the perfect suit for his ambitions. Upon receiving his Ph.D, Bardeen left for Princeton to research the relationships between quantum mechanics and semiconductors with Co. Researchers Eugene Wigner, Walter Brattain, and Frederick Seitz.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Within this lab group, these men won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brittain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. [⁸]A key conceptual element in this theory is pairing of electrons close to the “F” or Fermi Level into joined cooper pairs through interaction with crystals. [⁹]
With Shockley head of the lab group, he grew more and more envious of Bardeen and his findings. Shockley was so worried that Bardeen and his crew were going to take all credit for the discoveries they surfaced, that he began working on his own projects. This competition within each other drove Bardeen to finish and publish his finding as soon as possible. With the competition roaring between studies, Bardeen and Brittain found the Point-Junction transistor which Shockley later revised and improved. [¹⁰]
In 1936, the transistor could have revolutionized communications globally as well as nationally to modernize war tactics for the upcoming World War Two. The transmission of radio signals was something that would give the US Army a war advantage if the invention was kept a secret from other countries. [⁴]Bardeen and researchers hoped the army wouldn't want to keep this communication breakthrough private from the press and public, but they waited it out realizing it was very likely to happen.
Major Contributions
John Bardeen, Fredrick Seitz and Eugene Wigner invented the first transistor in 1935. After attending Harvard, where he met his wife, Jane Maxwell, Bardeen worked as a professor at the University of Minnesota up until World War two erupted. As soon as the war surfaced, John went to work for the United Stated Naval Ordnance Labs to help the navy develop ways to protect United States Ships from torpedoes and Magnetic Mines. His participation and efforts given to the United States Navy was essential in saving the lives of many US Military men on board the vessels.
Photo Courtesy of Google
The disappearance of electrical resistivity was modeled in terms of electron pairing in the crystal lattice by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer in what is commonly called the BCS Theory. [⁸]The BCS Theory is still used by scientists or physicists today. The BCS theory helped John apply his superconductivity ideas to lead to the invention of the first transistor as stated above. The transistor came to be one of the biggest communication revelations of all time.
John Bardeen Began his career at the Gulf Oil Company. The Gulf Oil Company became notorious over time for creating some of the first filling stations, selling their own product for profit, and creating land maps to sale to consumers nationally. Bardeen worked as a geophysicist at the Gulf Oil Company and his occupational duties were to calculate where to drill and set equipment to find the largest amounts of oil to sell nationally and internationally.
John worked at various Universities participating in further research of quantum mechanics and semiconductors. John Bardeen is the only man in history to receive two individual Nobel Prizes. The first one was awarded for the invention of the first transistor and the second one was for the discovery of semiconductors. John Bardeen has contributed greatly to society then and now. With the invention of the transistor, the technological world has advanced greatly. Data and voice communications have really come a long way in their simplicity and accuracy for delivering information.
Affects and Effects
John Bardeen had many effects on science in various fashions. He was born a genius to continue his education to have his first job as a geophysicist. He later resigned that job at the Gulf Oil Company to pursue more studies at Princeton University.[¹] Within his Princeton days, Bardeen sparked an interest in metals and their properties. With the new metallic ambitions, he furthered his studies to quantum mechanics. With the knowledge of quantum mechanics, John was able to elaborate on the discoveries of the "semiconductors". With all of these studies and lab partners, Shockley, Brittain, and Cooper, the very first transistor was created. With Brittain's curiosity to improve amplification, he because frustrated and threw the experiment in a tub of water. When he did this, he realized amplification occurred great through water, a semiconductor. The discovery only flourished from there to improve modern technology we used then, now, and the in the future to come. The discovery of the transistor was the greatest revelation for the communication company AT&T that is one of the largest phone and data communications companies existing in the world today. In addition to the invention of the Transistor, his work did not go unrecognized. He shared the honor between Brittain and Shockley as well by receiving a Nobel Prize. Bardeen is known to be the only man to receive two differing Nobel Prizes.
More effects Bardeen had on science and history was his contribution to the United States Naval Force Vessels. As soon as the war surfaced, John went to work for the United Stated Naval Ordnance Labs to help the navy develop ways to protect United States Ships from torpedoes and Magnetic Mines. "Bell Labs was contacted by the U.S. Navy in 1937 to develop research already initiated in the emerging field of radar technology. Between 1934 and 1937, the Naval Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Signal Corps had conducted experiments in the field of radio detection and ranging device. Bell Labs' involvement in the project proved worthwhile. In 1939 the facility demonstrated to U.S. federal government and Navy officials a model radar instrument that accurately plotted the course of ships between New York and New Jersey."(information provided by Bell Labs Inc.)[¹⁶]
John Bardeen affected the science industry greatly. With the invention of the first transistor, the world of technological communications flourished. From cellular telephones to television to radio transmissions local or international, the world today has come so far. Although John has motivated modern scientists, John always motivated himself. He had grown up with an influential family so his only option was to be successful in everything he accomplished or attempted.
Although there is no proof of all the people Bardeen has influenced, it can be said that many would be justified in admiring his life. As many scientists do, John was one to think outside the box. Johns behavior exemplified that if something you work so hard on fails the first time, try again and again and eventually, you will overcome that barrier of dissatisfaction and maybe even invent something. Although he was at an advantage of having an influential family home life, for some portion of his life, that's not to say he would not have been such a legacy to the science and communication industries. For example, when Brittain and Bardeen were in "competition" of Shockley, he never have up with the studies of amplification and conductivity.
Legacy
Bardeen and his research crew at the University of Princeton created the first transistor "by accident." Brattain was working on creating an amplifier and got fed up with it and threw it in water.[²] Little did he know, his frustration leaped into creating a very important part of the modern communication we use today. Transistors were the stepping stone in the development of communication. We would not have cell phones, television, or even the internet with their absence. A transistor aids in the "transmission" of communication signals. At AT&T’s Bell Laboratories in 1947, Bardeen, along with Brattain and Shockley, developed the first semiconductor transistor. That invention transformed science and industry as transistors pushed aside large, inefficient vacuum tubes for use in portable radios, computers, televisions and other electronics. [¹³]With the development of the transistor, military lines of communication were much more accurate and safe to send information through. In fact, the men were very anxious to alert the public of their discoveries, but the government said to refrain until they were completely sure they wanted the information released with the Second World War approaching.[²]
Photo courtesy of AT&T
John Bardeen grew up in a most influential family. His mother obtained great morals for success. For example, John’s first career after receiving his masters degree from the University of Wisconsin was to be employed at the Gulf Oil Company of the United States. In the company, John was a geophysicist. [¹]After three years of continuing the job, Bardeen decided he wanted more for his life. Finances were not always the concern of utmost importance, but his true happiness was. He resigned his position at the Gulf Oil Company to return to Princeton University to study in depth mathematical physics which he later advanced to work in the AT&T Bell Labs. In addition, His grandfather, on his mother’s side, provided great amounts of influence as well. He always told John that the "Greatest opportunity is to serve." [¹⁴] Bardeen took his grandfather's advice to keep pursuing things that are relavent to society such as physics including the creation of the transistor.
According to author Lillian Hoddeson, John was a unique kind of genius. He was never boastful of his discoveries and behaved as he truly was, simply exceptionally talented as opposed to eccentric. [¹⁴] A quote from his son, Bill Bardeen, states,"I knew that the transistor was important, but not how it happened," Bill Bardeen said. "I was just eight years old at the time and [my father] spoke very little at home. We knew he was there if we needed him, but he never forced anything on us." His children conclude that his father was very loyal to his studies yet he kept business at work and loved his family at home. [¹⁴]
Table of Contents
John Bardeen
Bardeen discovered many things in his scientific career including the concept that one may reach their desires and passions with great determination and patience. Using the concept of Quantum Mechanics, Bardeen accomplished many great things in his life. With the help of Brattain and Shockley, the researchers received two Nobel Prize awards for the creation of the first transistor and many new theories following the facts of quantum mechanics."The combined results of several people working together is often much more effective than could be that of an individual scientist working alone."-John Bardeen. [¹] After many more years of studies and findings, Bardeen became a member of the American Physical Society and served on the Council from 1954 through 1957, in which he became president in 1968 and 1969.
Insights and Influences
May 23rd, 1908 of Madison Wisconsin, John Bardeen was born by parents Dr.Charles Russel Bardeen and Althea Harmer Bardeen. From a family of greater knowledge, John was expected to perform exceptionally well during his life. Althea, his mother, studied art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York and his father, Charles, attended the University of Wisconsin Medical School to receive a PhD. Althea, his mother, was diagnosed with cancer when John was approximately 14 years old. [¹]After his mother’s death, John resented his father for sugarcoating the importance of her condition, which in turn helped John decide he wanted to be nothing like his father. Instead of going to Medical School, John attended the University of Wisconsin to receive a master’s degree in engineering. [¹]With a masters in electrical engineering, one would assume getting a job that pays sufficiently would be a simple task, however for Bardeen, all that was offered to him was a geologic position for Gulf Oil Company as a geophysicist. Finding a job to pursue ones passions in life was a great challenge during the days of the American Depression. After three years, he decided that his desires did not include pursuing geological engineering, but to study in depth mathematical physics in which he received a PhD. Bardeen enjoyed complex math, therefore physics was the perfect suit for his ambitions. Upon receiving his Ph.D, Bardeen left for Princeton to research the relationships between quantum mechanics and semiconductors with Co. Researchers Eugene Wigner, Walter Brattain, and Frederick Seitz.
Within this lab group, these men won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brittain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. [⁸]A key conceptual element in this theory is pairing of electrons close to the “F” or Fermi Level into joined cooper pairs through interaction with crystals. [⁹]
With Shockley head of the lab group, he grew more and more envious of Bardeen and his findings. Shockley was so worried that Bardeen and his crew were going to take all credit for the discoveries they surfaced, that he began working on his own projects. This competition within each other drove Bardeen to finish and publish his finding as soon as possible. With the competition roaring between studies, Bardeen and Brittain found the Point-Junction transistor which Shockley later revised and improved. [¹⁰]
In 1936, the transistor could have revolutionized communications globally as well as nationally to modernize war tactics for the upcoming World War Two. The transmission of radio signals was something that would give the US Army a war advantage if the invention was kept a secret from other countries. [⁴]Bardeen and researchers hoped the army wouldn't want to keep this communication breakthrough private from the press and public, but they waited it out realizing it was very likely to happen.
Major Contributions
John Bardeen, Fredrick Seitz and Eugene Wigner invented the first transistor in 1935. After attending Harvard, where he met his wife, Jane Maxwell, Bardeen worked as a professor at the University of Minnesota up until World War two erupted. As soon as the war surfaced, John went to work for the United Stated Naval Ordnance Labs to help the navy develop ways to protect United States Ships from torpedoes and Magnetic Mines. His participation and efforts given to the United States Navy was essential in saving the lives of many US Military men on board the vessels.The disappearance of electrical resistivity was modeled in terms of electron pairing in the crystal lattice by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer in what is commonly called the BCS Theory. [⁸]The BCS Theory is still used by scientists or physicists today. The BCS theory helped John apply his superconductivity ideas to lead to the invention of the first transistor as stated above. The transistor came to be one of the biggest communication revelations of all time.
John Bardeen Began his career at the Gulf Oil Company. The Gulf Oil Company became notorious over time for creating some of the first filling stations, selling their own product for profit, and creating land maps to sale to consumers nationally. Bardeen worked as a geophysicist at the Gulf Oil Company and his occupational duties were to calculate where to drill and set equipment to find the largest amounts of oil to sell nationally and internationally.
John worked at various Universities participating in further research of quantum mechanics and semiconductors. John Bardeen is the only man in history to receive two individual Nobel Prizes. The first one was awarded for the invention of the first transistor and the second one was for the discovery of semiconductors. John Bardeen has contributed greatly to society then and now. With the invention of the transistor, the technological world has advanced greatly. Data and voice communications have really come a long way in their simplicity and accuracy for delivering information.
Affects and Effects
John Bardeen had many effects on science in various fashions. He was born a genius to continue his education to have his first job as a geophysicist. He later resigned that job at the Gulf Oil Company to pursue more studies at Princeton University.[¹] Within his Princeton days, Bardeen sparked an interest in metals and their properties. With the new metallic ambitions, he furthered his studies to quantum mechanics. With the knowledge of quantum mechanics, John was able to elaborate on the discoveries of the "semiconductors". With all of these studies and lab partners, Shockley, Brittain, and Cooper, the very first transistor was created. With Brittain's curiosity to improve amplification, he because frustrated and threw the experiment in a tub of water. When he did this, he realized amplification occurred great through water, a semiconductor. The discovery only flourished from there to improve modern technology we used then, now, and the in the future to come. The discovery of the transistor was the greatest revelation for the communication company AT&T that is one of the largest phone and data communications companies existing in the world today. In addition to the invention of the Transistor, his work did not go unrecognized. He shared the honor between Brittain and Shockley as well by receiving a Nobel Prize. Bardeen is known to be the only man to receive two differing Nobel Prizes.More effects Bardeen had on science and history was his contribution to the United States Naval Force Vessels. As soon as the war surfaced, John went to work for the United Stated Naval Ordnance Labs to help the navy develop ways to protect United States Ships from torpedoes and Magnetic Mines. "Bell Labs was contacted by the U.S. Navy in 1937 to develop research already initiated in the emerging field of radar technology. Between 1934 and 1937, the Naval Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Signal Corps had conducted experiments in the field of radio detection and ranging device. Bell Labs' involvement in the project proved worthwhile. In 1939 the facility demonstrated to U.S. federal government and Navy officials a model radar instrument that accurately plotted the course of ships between New York and New Jersey."(information provided by Bell Labs Inc.)[¹⁶]
John Bardeen affected the science industry greatly. With the invention of the first transistor, the world of technological communications flourished. From cellular telephones to television to radio transmissions local or international, the world today has come so far. Although John has motivated modern scientists, John always motivated himself. He had grown up with an influential family so his only option was to be successful in everything he accomplished or attempted.
Although there is no proof of all the people Bardeen has influenced, it can be said that many would be justified in admiring his life. As many scientists do, John was one to think outside the box. Johns behavior exemplified that if something you work so hard on fails the first time, try again and again and eventually, you will overcome that barrier of dissatisfaction and maybe even invent something. Although he was at an advantage of having an influential family home life, for some portion of his life, that's not to say he would not have been such a legacy to the science and communication industries. For example, when Brittain and Bardeen were in "competition" of Shockley, he never have up with the studies of amplification and conductivity.
Legacy
Bardeen and his research crew at the University of Princeton created the first transistor "by accident." Brattain was working on creating an amplifier and got fed up with it and threw it in water.[²] Little did he know, his frustration leaped into creating a very important part of the modern communication we use today. Transistors were the stepping stone in the development of communication. We would not have cell phones, television, or even the internet with their absence. A transistor aids in the "transmission" of communication signals. At AT&T’s Bell Laboratories in 1947, Bardeen, along with Brattain and Shockley, developed the first semiconductor transistor. That invention transformed science and industry as transistors pushed aside large, inefficient vacuum tubes for use in portable radios, computers, televisions and other electronics. [¹³]With the development of the transistor, military lines of communication were much more accurate and safe to send information through. In fact, the men were very anxious to alert the public of their discoveries, but the government said to refrain until they were completely sure they wanted the information released with the Second World War approaching.[²]
John Bardeen grew up in a most influential family. His mother obtained great morals for success. For example, John’s first career after receiving his masters degree from the University of Wisconsin was to be employed at the Gulf Oil Company of the United States. In the company, John was a geophysicist. [¹]After three years of continuing the job, Bardeen decided he wanted more for his life. Finances were not always the concern of utmost importance, but his true happiness was. He resigned his position at the Gulf Oil Company to return to Princeton University to study in depth mathematical physics which he later advanced to work in the AT&T Bell Labs. In addition, His grandfather, on his mother’s side, provided great amounts of influence as well. He always told John that the "Greatest opportunity is to serve." [¹⁴] Bardeen took his grandfather's advice to keep pursuing things that are relavent to society such as physics including the creation of the transistor.
According to author Lillian Hoddeson, John was a unique kind of genius. He was never boastful of his discoveries and behaved as he truly was, simply exceptionally talented as opposed to eccentric. [¹⁴] A quote from his son, Bill Bardeen, states,"I knew that the transistor was important, but not how it happened," Bill Bardeen said. "I was just eight years old at the time and [my father] spoke very little at home. We knew he was there if we needed him, but he never forced anything on us." His children conclude that his father was very loyal to his studies yet he kept business at work and loved his family at home. [¹⁴]
References
1.http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/bardeen/2.http://people.clarkson.edu/~ekatz/scientists/bardeen.htm
3.http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_bardeen.html
4.http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/miraclemo.html
5.http://www.answers.com/topic/john-bardeen
6.http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/were-john-bardeen-two-nobel-prizes-413875.html
7.http://www.physics.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/ambegaokar_review.pdf
8.http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/Solids/scond.html#c1
9.http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/Solids/bcs.html#c2
10.http://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/
11.http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/bardeen-bio.html
12.http://www.corp.att.com/history/milestone_1947b.html
13.http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_bardeen/index.html
14.http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ferminews03-06-27/p5.html
15.http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Gulf_Oil_-_History/id/1445872
16.http://www.answers.com/topic/at-t-bell-laboratories-inc#